What book(s) are you reading right now?

[IndigoGolem]

I read Foundation and Empire a couple months ago, and then read Foundation and Second Foundation this month. Now i'm reading the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, and i'm also a few chapters into Exoseed. I have Dune on hold at the library so i'll read it at some point in the near future.

[Cyber_Cyan]

I'm reading BRAINWYRMS by Alison Rumfitt ! I love body horror so it's right up my alley.

I'm also reading manga series: ERASED and Angel Sanctuary. Both are really good, though Angel Sanctuary is a bit confusing at times and not as much focused on technology and video games as I thought it'd be, given the premise. The art is MAGICAL though, it's impressive.

I plan on reading some non fiction after my novel, I have an essay about psychiatry that I bought with a gift card, maybe I'll give it a try !

[Kiko!]

It's so frustrating wanting to read Everything and having a hard time getting just a bit of reading done at a time, when I really want to read all evening :P it's a weird experience as I've been so used to being able to plough through books.

oh my goodness someone gets me! I have bookish friends so I always compare myself with their speed of reading and how much books they read. And it's like man if i didn't stop reading in favor for short form content, I would have been speeding through books at light speed just like them.

I also tend to be performative about my reading which is crazy. I read only when in public and rarely read for myself unless I watch other people read on yt XD

[wolfkitty42]

oh my goodness someone gets me! I have bookish friends so I always compare myself with their speed of reading and how much books they read. And it's like man if i didn't stop reading in favor for short form content, I would have been speeding through books at light speed just like them.

I also tend to be performative about my reading which is crazy. I read only when in public and rarely read for myself unless I watch other people read on yt XD

I used to read constantly as a kid and eventually ended up doing much less of it as I sort of "grew out" of it. What I've realized is my tastes have just shifted, and I need to keep looking for new stories I am interested in reading.... And, also, that yeah, as I've grown older and had more freedom, consuming youtube and stuff takes up much more of my time. I don't really want it to, so I'm trying to shift to being more intentional about what I watch and incorperating more reading into my time!

I've been on a kick of reading old Shojo manga for a while, but it's sort of paused right now because a middle schooler found out I liked JJBA and asked if I wanted all of it. And I was like, what? And I was like Yes, and then he sent me a folder with. All of the Jojos manga. LMAO???? Yay!!!
I'm working my way through Jojolion right now, which is fun. I also finished listening to a Purple Haze Feedback audiobook someone put on Youtube, and I'm super duper excited for when it'll come out with an official english translation!!!
Once I finish Jojolion and catch up to the Jojolands I'm planning to read the rest of the Vampire Knight series because I read the first one and it turns out my library has the rest  of them!! I also found a copy of Hana Kimi, which I hear is good and I WANT to read despite the fact I can't focus on anything other than Jojos right now. Help.

I also read a fair bit  of fanfiction, of course.... Which, isn't really published work, but I think it should be taken into account more often when we're thinking about how often we read!

[lakes]

I'm the middle of reading "The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion" by Gary Taubes, "The Spanish Anarchists" by Murray Bookchin, and Das Kapital as an audiobook. The 2nd of which is on the Spanish Civil War.
I learned some interesting things from them. For example, in the 1st one, they mention that some physics professors were able to tell that cold fusion probably wasn't legit because the experiment used hydrogen and palladium and they'd have their classes where they'd use palladium to filter out hydrogen without any major accidents.
I'm also thinking of starting another Discworld audiobook for something a little more lighthearted. I wish I got into Discworld sooner, but back when I was a teen & 1st heard of the series, I was worried that I "didn't have the attention span" for reading.

[Cyber_Cyan]

I'm just done with "Brainwyrms", it was so visceral, I love this kind of body horror. It reminded me of Castration Movie and the book by Andrew J White "You Weren't Meant to be Human", though both were released after Brainwyrms. Really, gimme more gruesome visceral fleshed out trans horror, I can't get enough.

I've just started reading "Blackouts" by Justin Torres. I'm only at the beginning but it seems right up my alley.

Also started to read the manga "Boys Meets Maria" Peyo, only a few pages between classes though.

[noahie]

Right now I'm reading In the Rogue Blood by James Carlos Blake. Blake has been compared to Cormac McCarthy, but I think he's the better writer and way underrated. Lots of violence, but done with such well-developed prose that it is an absolute page-turner. Many of Blake's novels are set in 19th century West Texas, and he writes a lot of outlaw fiction.

I'm also getting through Everyday Saints by Archimandrite Tikhon, which has been great for me growing in my faith.

I was also going through some lectures from Schelling, but haven't touched that in a little while.

Really with my current reading list, I've been going through it a lot more slowly than I'd like. That happens sometimes with me; reading full novels takes a while, and these days I only get through 10-20 a year. I still read a lot, but it's mostly internet stuff like forums, blogs, and online publications. Really, I think that the age of the novel is dying, even if publishing revenues don't reflect that. And quite frankly, I think that's a good thing. Literary prestige is overrated and rooted in classism, so I'm all for increasing popularity of web serials and the like.

[Horsey Chobunso]

I haven't decided if I'm going to start A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge or Blood Music by Greg Bear. I really love sci-fi, especially new wave sci-fi or similar books that focus on human interaction as a result of technological progress, rather than details about the tech itself.

I recently took a break from sci-fi to dive back into fantasy and read some classic literature that was assigned to me in high school

[fablefound]

me again! woohoo! i've currently got a pretty eclectic selection going, so i figured i'd pop in...
*the bicycle diaries by david byrne. i'd say something like "only he could make urban infrastructure interesting" but honestly i am interested in this kind of thing anyway  it's also an interesting time capsule, with some of the essays being like 20 years old!
*annihilation by jeff vandermeer. finally got this out at libby and i can see why it's such a hit! very unique voice and very unique horror. love it.
*entangled life by merlin sheldrake. i've literally only just read the prologue, but it's about the magical world of fungi. what's not to love?

i've also finally committed to using the "up next" option on storygraph, which currently contains, among other things, mystic acoustics by vylet pony, life of the party by olivia gatwood, and disability visiblity by alice wong. my physical book hoard is also steadily growing, but i haven't been home as often as i usually am, so it's admittedly a little neglected. oh well!

[pepper]

I just finished  Interface   by Neal Stephenson and J Frederick George (a historian). Super good book! I got back into reading as a way to avoid watching youtube on my lunch breaks and its been lovely having a paperback to work through instead of watching mindless gaming streams.

Interface is a scifi political thriller set in 1997(?), published in 1994 and eerily topical. Its about an incredibly charismatic US presidential candidate who has a brain chip installed in him that lets his campaign connect his brain directly to the polls, essentially spying on the American population to influence the election. It was great! Lots of little details that really point to Stephenson and George having a good grasp of where we were heading. Also cool to read a book of speculative fiction written in and set in the 90s, about technology that wasn't invented yet but is currently being developed in the 20s.

Anyways big recommend. Hopefully my library has Seveneves cause I'm wanting to read more Stephenson and I've had my eye on that one

[snufkin]

*annihilation by jeff vandermeer. finally got this out at libby and i can see why it's such a hit! very unique voice and very unique horror. love it.
*entangled life by merlin sheldrake. i've literally only just read the prologue, but it's about the magical world of fungi. what's not to love?

fellow snufkin pfp haver! hello!

I love both of these books. Entangled Life was spectacular.

As for me, I'm currently reading The Faithful Executioner, a historical analysis of the life of German executioner Frantz Schmidt. It discusses his life and work within the context of society at the time, and its attitudes regarding crime and punishment, law and divinity, and all that stuff. Love it! Also am rereading a novel I loved as a schoolkid, Gregor the Overlander -- I will forever maintain it is better than the author's other and much more popular work, The Hunger Games.

[fablefound]

fellow snufkin pfp haver! hello!

I love both of these books. Entangled Life was spectacular.

As for me, I'm currently reading The Faithful Executioner, a historical analysis of the life of German executioner Frantz Schmidt. It discusses his life and work within the context of society at the time, and its attitudes regarding crime and punishment, law and divinity, and all that stuff. Love it! Also am rereading a novel I loved as a schoolkid, Gregor the Overlander -- I will forever maintain it is better than the author's other and much more popular work, The Hunger Games.

yooo snufkin twin! snuftwin, if you will...
i've only just started entangled life, but i'm really enjoying it haha. and both those books sound really cool :0 i knew collins had other writing credits, but i've never bothered to check them out...

[snufkin]

yooo snufkin twin! snuftwin, if you will...
i've only just started entangled life, but i'm really enjoying it haha. and both those books sound really cool :0 i knew collins had other writing credits, but i've never bothered to check them out...

snuftwi~n

It's just my humble opinion and indelibly touched by nostalgia ofc, but I think her first series was outstanding. HG was more mature in terms of grappling with contemporary social issues like wealth inequality, which I can appreciate -- not to mention she kinda blew up (positive) the trend of Teen Girl Saves Arbitrarily Categorized Bleak World which Veronica Roth blew up (negative) with Divergent -- but there was something about the Underland Chronicles that just slaps. It's fantasy but still feels grounded enough to address things like the impacts on children of living under financial strain and in a semi-parental role, or of the tragedy of young people forced to do terrible things under the guise of "prophecy." I could go on and on but SUFFICE TO SAY it is very good that's all

[TheFrugalGamer]

@fablefound Annihilation is so, so good! I read the three that were available at the time, and I think there's a fourth out now? I'll have to check it out once I get around to it.

Right now I'm reading We are all completely fine by Daryl Gregory, a novel about a group of survivors of paranormal tragedies who have been brought together into a support group. I'm about halfway through and really enjoying it, but I have a feeling that the ending is going to be sad.

I have no idea where I picked it up, but it was in my Kindle library without any trace of where it came from. I usually remember where and when I bought all of my ebooks, and why, but this was just hanging out there. I'm glad I started it.

[hi_tsem]

I am reading a book called 'The Prism I Hold in My Hand.' It's an annotated excerpt from the work of the white South African novelist + feminist philosopher Olive Schreiner. The annotations were done by an old university professor of mine. I have had the book for years, but I've never read it all the way through. Feels really good to reconnect with my nineteen-year-old self through these explosive ideas. Also fascinating to read a piece of experimental fiction from early 20th century SA. South Africa has had a very interesting relationship with my own country (Nigeria) since we gained independence, but I have never been there. :-)